Improvement in wash-boards



lW. E. BROCK.

Wash-Board.

No. 209,221. Patented oct. 22,1878.

FIG. 4'.

vNJEI'F-RS, Primo-Limon APHER WASHINGYON D C UNITED STATES VILLIAM E. BROCK,

or NEW YORK, N. Y;

IMPROVEMENT lN WASH-BOARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent-No. 209,221, dated October 22, 1878 application iiled March 21, 1878.

To all whom 'it may concern 4Be it known that I, WTLLIAM E. BROCK, of No. 1080 Second avenue, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Wash-Boards, of which the following is a specification:

The invention relates to a waslrboard for rubbing clothing during the process of washlng.

Heretofore such boards have been made of wood provided with a grooved, ribbed, or corrugated rubbing-surface, usually held for convenience between side pieces, constituting a frame, two of which are extended at the bottom so as to form legs for the support of the board within a wash-tub, or provided with corrugated rubbing-surfaces of sheet metal, pottery, or glass, made in one solid piece. A surface of wood becomes'rough, and wears out the clothing too rapidly. Sheet metal does not stand the rubbing aslon g as is desirable. Pottery is expensive, and when the vitrified surface becomes in the slightest degree worn, dcfaced, or chipped the exposed surface is necessarilyrough and very destructive to cloth-- ing; and when made of a solid plate of corrugated glass the wash-board is too costly for any extended use.

The object of my invention is to provide a surface having all the advantages of glass, but so made as to compete in cheapness with those having wood and sheet-metal rubbingsurfaces; and the invention consists in ribs composed ot narrow strips of glass ground upon one edge and one face, which are laid and cemented upon a grooved backingof wood or other suitable supporting material, so that the strips of glass shall be solidly supported against the rubbing pressure.

In the accompanying drawing, in which similar letters indicate like parts, Figure l is a perspective view ofthe wash-board, and Fig.

2 is a sectional view cut on the line am, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the wood backing. Fig. A is an enlarged view of a part of Fig. 2.

G represents the glass surface, and G the narrow strips of glass, which are ground or rounded oft on the upper edge, E, and on the face F. C, Fig. 3, indicates. a corrugated or ribbed surface of wood or other suitable supporting material, which is the backing against and by` which the several glass strips G G are supported.

The strips G G are made wide enough to overlap each other from below upward to the extent of, say, about one-half, so that the lower half of each strip rests upon an inclined surfaceof the wood backing, while the upper half rests directly upon the lower half of the adjoining strip above.

'Ihe strips are attached to the backing Cas follows: The whole surface C is first covered with a suitable cement for glass and wood-I find common paint is best suited to the purpose-aud the strips of glass are put into the places, or upon the inclined surfaces, where they are to remain, the lower edge of the glass touching the upper edge of the next slope of the wood backing. Before the strips are thus inserted they should bc covered on the back with a coat of the cement or paint, so that the whole under surface of each strip may be securely attached to the back and the strip of glass underneath it, especially on the upper edge, against which the rubbing takes ei'ec't most rmly, and where the water and suds collect and to some extent remain. ment or paint may be made of any desired color, so as to give an attractive appearance to the wash-board. After all the glass strips are cemented in place the side strips iS S a-re applied and secured to the frame F F by the usual fastenings over the ends of all the glass strips. The strips S S thus assist the cement in holding the glass strips G G solidly to the bed C, on which they lie.

I do not claim a glass rubbing-surface in a wash-board, broadly.

I am aware of the invention shown in the Letters Patent No. 22,053, granted to John Adams, and dated November 16, 1858. The corrugated rubbing-surface in that invention is composed of glass, but it is represented as pressed in a mold of proper form. vThis is difficult to do satisfactorily, and increases the expense materially. My invention differs from this in having the corrugations simulated by means vof strips oi' glass, which are easilybuilt into the wash-board so as to give a proper rubbing-surface Without molding or pressing, and much more cheaply, as refuse material can be used. But

What I do claim as my invention is.

1. A Wash-board provided with the ribs G Gr', composed of narrow strips of glass.

2. A Wash-board provided with the ribs G G', composed of narrow strips of glass ground upon the upper edges E and upper faces F, cemented to and supported by a grooved board backing, G, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM E. BROCK. Witnesses:

G. M. THOMPSON, JOHN H. BELL. 

